In addition to moving to a new location earlier this year, the firm’s Private Wealth Management office boosted its staff and client base. The Clayton-based branch moved two months ago from 101 S. Hanley Road to Centene Plaza at 7700 Forsyth Blvd.

Brian Thomas, market manager at the St. Louis branch, said it had simply outgrown the previous location — especially as it experienced growth in staff and business.

“We were out of space,” Thomas said. “We had no room to continue to add advisers, which we want to do, and the Centene Plaza is a brand-new building.”

The local branch opened its doors in 2008 and expanded in the last year from eight to 19 mainly senior-level employees. “We’ve hired some very senior people from the top competitors in this market,” Thomas said. For instance, a half-dozen wealth management advisers jumped from a local Merrill Lynch branch to JPMorgan in January.

Although the branch doesn’t aspire to be the biggest in town, it will continue to hire and will be looking to be in the “mid-20s” in staff in the next 18 to 24 months, Thomas said.

JPMorgan doesn’t release assets by individual market, but Thomas said the St. Louis branch doubled its business last year and is on pace to double again this year. Overall the Private Wealth Management unit had roughly $773 billion in client assets at end of first quarter 2011. JPMorgan Chase had revenue of $104.8 billion in 2010.

Part of the reason for expansion into St Louis, Thomas said, is that JPMorgan is wanting to double its business globally over the next five years, and St. Louis was an untapped market for these services.

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